Brain of Samsung Galaxy S4 sets world record to solve Rubik’s Cube

This basically proves that anything can be achieved with some Legos and a smartphone. In Birmingham, United Kingdom, at the Big Bang Fair, a robot, Cubestormer 3, shattered the world record for solving the iconic 3D puzzle that is Rubik’s Cube.

To put things in perspective, the human-powered record was set last year by Mats Valk of the Netherlands. He could only solve it in 5.55-seconds. That was not fast enough for what was then holding the absolute record that was Cubestormer 2 (powered by a Samsung Galaxy S2) which managed to solve the puzzle in 5.27-seconds.

Cubestormer 3 is a whole new generation of geekdom and robot.  Legos with robot actuators are connected to a Samsung Galaxy S4 (Exynos octa-core powered) which is tasked with analyzing the cube’s starting arrangement.  Then, the Samsung directs the Mindstorm actuators to spin the cube in the manner needed to solve the puzzle.

How fast did Cubestormer 3 handle the mission? Try 3.253-seconds. As you can see in the video below the device is hammering the Rubik’s Cube with movements that are basically faster than the human eye can see. Then again, when you look at at Mats Valk’s video solving the puzzle, his action is pretty fast too. What is your record for solving the puzzle (no, taking it apart and reassembling does not count)?

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SoundCloud reportedly in talks with record labels to stem copyright claims

Both listeners and uploaders would likely agree that SoundCloud is becoming the main hub on the internet for user-created audio content. However, it seems as if the company may be looking to grow beyond that. According to Re/code, SoundCloud has started approaching "big music labels" in hopes of landing licensing deals for "some of their songs." While a number of copyrighted tunes can already be found on the site (see above), the music labels still have full control and can easily take down any media that isn't supposed to be there. For SoundCloud users, this would signify having access to a more robust library of songs from known artists, while the record companies would benefit by taking a chunk of money in exchange for a licensing agreement. It could be a bold move for SoundCloud, but with investors recently showing they have quite a lot of faith in it, perhaps the service isn't far off from coming to terms with the almighty music labels.

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Via: The Verge

Source: Re/code

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NY Judge Rules NSA Phone Record Collection Is Legal

. “The right to be free from searches and seizures is fundamental, but not absolute,” New York’s Judge William Pauley wrote.

This stands in direct contrast to a decision earlier this month declaring the very same program is likely unconstitutional. “We are pleased with the decision,” said Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr.

In essence, Pauley was convinced that countermeasures to investigate terror plots justified mass collection of data.

The government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program — a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data.

He went a bit further, arguing that collection from private firms was likely more invasive, yet few consumers care. The government, moreover, has only had isolated instances of abuse.

Every day, people voluntarily surrender personal and seemingly-private information to trans-national corporations, which exploit that data for profit. Few think twice about it, even though it is far more intrusive than bulk telephony metadata collection. There is no evidence that the government has used any of bulk telephony metadata it collected for any purpose other than investigating and disrupting terrorist attacks. While there have been unintentional violations of guidelines, those appear to stem from human error and the incredibly complex computer programs that support this vital tool. And once detected, those violations were self-reported and stopped.

As I’ve noted before, ultimately, these decisions will likely have to be decided by the Supreme Court. Or Congress could decide to end bulk collection sooner.

The short of it is that, practically speaking, this decision won’t mean much, but could provide compelling arguments for the Supreme Court, should it decide on the controversial practice.

Until then, please have a wonderful holiday weekend and feel free to enjoy this joke.

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